Tokyo Ghoul - Hunger
by TheGingaNinja20
Summary: A story about a group of 4 ghouls working with an unnamed professor to create food edible by Ghouls by stealing chemicals to create a solution which, when applied to food, makes it edible for ghouls. Updates bi-weekly.
1. Prologue

Hunger

 _Prologue_

The moonlight beat down on the group of three through the window as they searched every nook and cranny of the room.

"Where is it?" Asked the black-haired boy.

"Well, if I knew that, I wouldn't be looking everywhere, now would I?" The snide remark came from the red-haired boy in the corner searching through the medicine cabinets.

"If we don't find this thing, then we'll have to do... _that_ again." Said the black-haired boy as he shuddered.

"Found it!" The brown-haired boy stood up as he produced a long vial from a box behind him. It contained a black liquid and had a label which read 'P#0065'

"Good work, Kuroda. Let's get out of here. This place gives me the creeps." The black-haired boy was anxious to leave.

The trio climbed out through the window on the ceiling and out onto the roof of the building. From the outside, it looked like a normal hospital, however, what was in that vial was proof of the contrary.

"Any trouble while we were gone, Ryouji?" The red-haired boy asked the blond boy that was waiting on the roof, binoculars in hand.

"As if, Ki. You know I'd have taken care of it, even if there was."

"Whatever you say."

The group of four jumped off from the roof and dashed into the nearby forestry, escaping into the night.


	2. Chapter 1

_Chapter 1_

MAKOTO

The black-haired boy walked up the slight hill in the road, approaching a small pillar in front of a house. Behind the pillar was a wall, not too much taller than himself. He hopped up onto the pillar, and then onto the wall. He then jumped off the wall to the other side. Around him was discarded signs, and plants and bushes. Some dead, some overgrown. He looked to the left to the only tree in the area. It had taken quite a beating, and had large part of the branches snapped off, scattering leaves and smaller branches on the ground below it. From here, he could see his partners sitting in their usual places. First was Taiki (or Ki, as he preferred to be called), a red-haired boy a little over a year older than himself. He was sitting on his usual spot on a branch, next to another branch that pointed straight up, making a 90 degree angle. Beside said upwad branch,was a small, but resilient part of a branch that Ki would've used to swing himself up after making a very small run up to it. Across from Ki, sitting on a plank of wood placed across a vaguely Y-shaped branch, was the brown-haired Kuroda, who was only a few months older than the black-haired boy. In between both Kuroda and Ki, was the blond-haired Ryouji. Ryouji was the first to spot the black-haired boy as he called out to him.

"Makoto, get over here, you're late!"

"Don't listen to him, he's just stingy," came Ki's usual quip. Of course, the black-haired boy, Makoto, had already anticipated that such a thing would happen and responded accordingly.

"Well, he kinda needs to be, don't you think? I mean, he _is_ the lookout."

"Sometimes I wonder just what it is he's looking out for. Nothing ever goes wrong with us." Ki seemed to be a little annoyed, although Makoto knew he was grateful for Ryouji's work.

"Nothing ever goes wrong because we work so well together. If we didn't have a lookout, we wouldn't have that connection." Makoto once again was forced deliver a mini-lecture to the others. Even if he didn't want to, which he never does.

As the four continued their bickering, with Kuroda remaining mostly silent throughout, they suddenly noticed the appearance of a fifth presence.

"And here she is," exclaimed Ki. "'Bout time, I was starting to get bored." As he said this, a girl approached the tree. She had long, brown hair and was also older than Makoto. Ki moved over so she could hop on to the branch that was above him before moving back, and waited.

"...So?" Kuroda was the first to speak.

"Unfortunately," she began, as the four boys collectively let out a sigh of disappointment. "We've been so far unable to detect any mysterious or unusual new chemicals within the sample you brought us."

"Oh, come _on_ " came the complaint from Kuroda "We've been collecting new samples for God knows how long, and all we've had so far is negative result after negative result. What's the point?"

"Well," she continued, "We're still conducting research on it. In the mean time, we've got more work for you. We think that maybe they've separated the chemical into separate bottles, that, when combined will be the overall solution we're looking for."

"So we gotta find all of these things? But wasn't the last one P... 65, or something?" Ki looked up as his face showed an obvious expression of exhaustion.

"Luckily, no. We also think that they've disguised they're order using some kind of code. Based on chemicals you've brought us previously, chemical P#0065 included, we can estimate that there are ten overall, and you've brought us three, so that means seven more to go." This girl was Kumiko. She worked with someone who she would only refer to as 'the professor.' She and him were working alongside the group of four to try and create a special type of food so that they'd never have to do _that_ again.

Yes, as much as they may want to deny it, these four are 'ghouls' who had to feed on humans to survive. They hated it, despite being the strongest ghouls in the surrounding areas. Even still, they were a far cry from the tales you'd hear of people like the 'rabbit' or the 'eyepatch' in Tokyo. In fact, the ghoul population here was so low, that the local police only had a relatively small division who would attempt to take down any ghouls who got too active.

Of course, there were still many who despised the ghouls, as was to be expected, so it would be difficult getting the big companies to supply secret research that the public shouldn't even know about in an attempt to actually help ghouls. So, they had to resort to breaking and entering. One particular company, whose name Makoto couldn't recall, was creating something that the professor believed could be altered, and then applied to normal food like a seasoning, allowing ghouls to taste, and digest it.

"So," Makoto asked, "what've you got lined up for us next?"

"A hospital on the east end of town." Kumiko said this in a calm and collected manner. On hearing this, Kuroda stood up on the plank.

"What? A hospital? Is the professor crazy? What could possibly be there? What about the patients?"

"Don't worry, there are no patients currently in the hospital."

"And how, exactly, do you know that?"

"We gained access to the security footage from the hospital, to find that there wasn't a single non-employee there," Kumiko was trying her best to assure Kuroda that it was safe.

"What...? No one? That doesn't..." Kuroda cut his sentence short and shook his head.

"Something wrong?" Everyone was showing concerned expressions as Kuroda asked this.

"No, it's nothing. This is fine."

"...Alright," Kumiko continued carefully, "We believe the item in question to be in a room at the back of the third floor, although this particular data is slightly outdated, so be on the lookout for anything." Ki moved over again as Kumiko climbed back down. "Alright, that's all for now. Good luck."

As they watched her leave, potential strategies began to flow in to Makoto's head. This was why he was even leader in the first place, despite being the youngest. He could subconsciously see things from any and every angle, and was able to plan things out on the go, making him the perfect field leader.

"Okay," He said, "Time to get to work"


	3. Chapter 2

_Chapter 2_

KURODA

Kuroda sat on his makeshift bed, staring at his dilapidated surroundings. This was the home of every ghoul in the area. A large, abandoned school, full to the brim with approximately 200 ghouls. Rooms were shared by ghouls, with a special case being made for families. Here, everyone took care of each other, but there was a special few who were revered in the eyes of the hotel's inhabitants. These four consisted of Kuroda, Makoto, Taiki, and Ryouji. This group of ghouls performed heists to, as they put it to the ghoul masses, 'one day allow all ghouls to live amongst humanity and co-exist.' Most of the ghouls thought this was complete nonsense, yet the four persevered.

Tonight, Kuroda sat alone, staring at a picture of a young ghoul, about three to five years old, and his parents. This was Kuroda's family, of course.

Kuroda's mother had been sick for a long time, and he was worried about what might become of her, when a man showed up at their old house, claiming he could help. Kuroda's mother left with the man. A few days later, they recieved a letter saying she was being taken care of in the hopsital on the east side of town. That evening, Kuroda's father said he was going to pay a quick visit, and that he'd be home soon. Kuroda's father came back, and told him never to go visit, because his mother would be back soon, and there was no need to. Weeks passed, and the same suited man showed up again. This time, Kuroda's father attacked him, and told Kuroda to run as fast as he could, and as far away as possible. It was then that Taiki and Ryouji found him, and brought him back to the hotel, where he joined up with Taiki, Ryouji and Makoto's group.

They were all only six years old at the time. After a few months, Kuroda worked up the courage to go back home. He found the house exactly as it was on the outside, but as he went through the door, he noticed what had happened. He saw is father on the floor, lying in a pool of blood. There was evidence of a struggle, as most of the room had been completely destroyed. Kuroda clenched his fists as he could feel the rage burning inside him. This was a turning point in Kuroda's life, as it brought out a new side to him that not even he knew he had. He turned around, and saw the familiar suited man standing at the end of the garden. The man pulled out a small pistol from his pocket, and, aiming for Kuroda's head, fired. Kuroda saw the bullet coming and, with a speed that was amazingly fast even for a ghoul, caught the bullet in between his finger and thumb. He crushed it in his hand, and began slowly advancing toward the suited man. He saw the man cowering as he hurried to load his next shot. Kuroda dashed forward and grabbed the man's throat and lifted him off his feet. Kuroda began squeezing harder and harder, until the man's face began losing it's colour. Soon after, the man had died. It was at this point that all of Kuroda's anger was expelled. Dropping the body, Kuroda fell on to his back.

Kuroda couldn't remember how long he lay there for, but he knew one thing for certain. He was going to find his mother, provided she was even alive and, if she wasn't, he would find who was responsible. For this reason, he stuck with Makoto and the others, wondering if they might be able to bring him closer to his mother, somehow.

Kuroda looked up from the photo, and, standing up from the bed, began walking out of the room, and upstairs to the room marked with the number '16' on it. He knocked on the door, which was then opened by Taiki. Makoto smiled when he saw Kuroda, and, gesturing towards the drawings on the whiteboard behind him, began speaking.

"Glad to see you came. I was a little worried you might bail after you found out what the target was."

"Please, you know I wouldn't miss this for the world." Kuroda said so, but in his mind, he thought that maybe, just maybe, this was the connection he'd been looking for.

"Alright then," Makoto continued. "Time to go over the plan."


	4. Chapter 3

_Chapter 3_

TAIKI

Taiki sat and stared at the whiteboard Makoto was pointing at. Makoto was noting different things on the shapes drawn on the board used to represent their next target. Taiki wasn't listening to any of it. He stared at the whiteboard, but he didn't really see it, and, in Taiki's mind, that was fine. He didn't need to see it.

"Ki, are you getting this?" Makoto called out to him. "Ki? Hello, Ki? Taiki!" Taiki jumped.

"I'm listeni- I mean, what- Umm... Yes!" Makoto sighed.

"You can't be constantly zoning out every time we plan something! You're our infiltrator, we can't have you dozing off!"

"Jeez, what's wrong with you? You said it yourself, I'm the infiltrator. I know how to get in, you just gotta tell me where."

"I am telling you, right now, in fact, but you're not listening!"

"Even if I did listen, you'd just tell me anyway in the field. Besides, it's a little difficult to focus when you drag me out of bed at eight in the morning!"

"Well," Makoto sighed. "I guess it can't be helped. Still, I would appreciate it if you could listen for once."

Taiki wasn't doing this on purpose, and Makoto knew that. Taiki wasn't a morning person, and never had been. He did, however, trust completely in Makoto's ability to come up with a strategy, and execute it flawlessly.

"You know Taiki," Ryouji began to interject. "I think it'd be best for you to listen just this once. I've got a bad feeling about this job."

"Really? Then, I suppose I could try to stay awake for this little debrief you got goin' on."

After the plan was laid out to them, everyone dispersed to their rooms to begin their preparations. Taiki donned his typical white, zip-up hoodie with black sleeves, with a white t-shirt underneath, black jeans and white shoes.

After they had finished, they were to meet up at the hospital. Taiki was the second to arrive, with Ryouji being the first.

"How's it looking?"

"Well, for a hospital with no patients, security's pretty tight here."

"Oh, yeah? I didn't see anything that would give off that impression."

"That's why your the infiltrator, and I'm the lookout. There's armoured guard stationed there, there and there." Ryouji pointed to the front and sides of the building.

"Are they inside?"

"Yeah. Look through the windows."

"I see 'em. Damn, that's some gear they got going on. Body armour, military grade weaponry. What's going on here?"

"Don't know. Still, it doesn't matter how much power they're packing if they never get to use it." Ryouji smirked.

"Well, if it comes to that, I don't think Kuroda will be able to handle them just by charging at them. We might have to get serious."

"Yeah. We don't have schematics or blueprints or anything like that, so they could have cameras anywhere without us knowing. I don't think staying quiet is going to be an option here." Taiki nodded.

"It's been a while since we've had a good workout, hasn't it?"

Taiki turned around to see Kuroda and Makoto with a small plastic bag.

"Here, take one of these." Makoto began handing out small black earphones to everyone. "We'll have direct support from Kumiko on this one, and we'll be able to communicate even when we're apart. Remember, if you run into trouble, take care of it quickly and silently. This is going to be our biggest target yet." Taiki put on the earphone and listened.

"Hello? Can you hear me?" Kumiko called out to the group.

"Taiki here. We hear you loud and clear."

"Okay, good. The room you're looking for is on the top floor, in the back. It should be a small, clear vial with a brown liquid in it labelled P#0066"

"Hey, I've been wondering. I understand one of them's out of service now, but why's there two hospitals here? If they were gonna make a new one, why not just use the old hopsital's building, instead of building a new one?" Taiki was inquiring about their last target. A small, out of commission hopsital on the edge of town, which had been converted in to a shelter for the homeless.

"There's people living in that old building, Taiki!"

"Oh, right. I forgot, sorry..."

"Ugh, whatever, just get going."

"A-alright then."

"You guys know we can hear you too, right?" said Makoto.

"Shut up, let's move."

"That's my call, not yours. Ryouji, how does it look?"

"Heavy resistance, we may not be able to keep quiet"

"Damn, alright, Ryouji, head to the infiltration point, and signal us when it's clear."

"Will do." Ryouji leapt off of his recon point and began moving towards their infiltration point, a window at the back of the building. After a few minutes, Taiki heard a short static noise from the earphone, followed by the all clear from Ryouji.

"Taiki, you know what do to."

Taiki, taking the same route as Ryouji, hit the ground running and dashed to the closest ambulance. Making sure to stay out of sight of the windows, he quickly made his way towards Ryouji.

"So, what have we got?" Taiki was eyeing up their point of entry. "Let's see here... Bulletproof, for sure... This frame's made of metal, that doesn't help me any... Here should do. Here, too." Taiki pulled a marker out of his pocket and drew multiple circles on the window. "This is going to take a little more effort than usual." Taiki stood back and readied his Kagune. A white, wing-shaped object portruded from his left shoulder, with a tiny black one on the right. Using his kagune, he shot spikes into each of the circles, all at once. The window shattered noiselessly, as if it was never there in the first place, and Taiki climbed through.

Using the earphones, Taiki gave Makoto and Kuroda the go-ahead to move in. They soon arrived and climbed through the frame as well. Ryouji was the last to go through.

"Alright, we're in. Kumiko, anything we should know?"

"Well, as I stated before, you need to get to the top floor. You'll have to go up two floors from where you are now. Watch out for any guards on patrol. I heard the police just got a new shipment of Q bullets, so they may be a little trigger-happy. Also, keep in mind that with the level of protection here, it wouldn't be surprising to see any RC scanners. Keep an eye out."

"RC scanners? Why would they need those?"

"Well... It's just a rumour, so I can't confirm anything, but I've heard talk of new types of Q bullets crafted to take on specific RC types. According to the rumours, they've been testing it for a while, although it was just with basic handgun ammo, and wasn't very effective. The only recorded success of these bullets were on a ghoul somewhere in this town. They say he was a father, whose wife was tested on in order to make the bullets." Upon hearing this, Kuroda gasped.

"What's wrong, Kuroda? Did you see someone?" Makoto frantically asked.

"N-no. It's, uh, it's nothing."

"Well, jeez, don't scare me like that. Alright, time to get going."

From the inside, there were three ways for them to go. To their sides were locked doors, and to their front, a hallway. Taiki wondered which way Ryouji would choose.

"Okay..." Ryouji had an intense expression on his face. "...We go straight through."

"What?" Kumiko's voice came from across the earphones. "Are you crazy? You'll be killed!"

"Don't worry," Taiki decided to interject. " We'll be fine."

Keeping a low profile, the group made their way down the hallway, and, making no contact were able to advance. Just as they were reaching the top of the staircase, they heard a sharp, short beeping, followed by an intercom.

"A group of suspicious individuals has been spotted. They are making their way up to the second floor now. We are currently in the process of identifying their RC type. Prepare to intercept."

"Damn it!" Taiki gritted his teeth. "I'm sorry. As an infiltrator, I should've foreseen something like this..."

"Don't worry about it Taiki," Makoto attempted to comfort him . "We all expected this from the start. I think that was our downfall here, but it's not over yet."

"These bastards..." Kuroda began clenching his fists. "Are really, really starting to piss me off."

With a shout, Kuroda began charging up the stairs.

"W-wait! Kuroda, slow down!" Everone tried to give chase, although Taiki knew there was no stopping him. As they reached the top of the staircase, they barged into the hallway to see Kuroda standing there. There was a dead man on the ground, and another one being held by the scruff of his neck by Kuroda. In front of his throat, just slightly cutting into it, so as not to kill him, was a sharp, sickle-shaped object. Blood from the man's throat trickled down the sickle, and on to the dark green, tail-like appendage that was portruding from the back of Kuroda's waist.

"Tell me... What happened to the patients who were sent here?" Kuroda pushed the kagune slightly further into the flesh of the man's neck.

"I-I don't... I don't know for sure, but..."

"But!?"

"But... I heard a rumour that they were all packed up in vans and sent to a research facility outside the city"

"Do you think any of them might still be alive?"

"No. I've heard the stories of what they do there. Whoever you're looking for, you won't find them in this world..."

"Hrm..." Kuroda withdrew the kagune from the man's throat, before making a full swing with it, decapitating the man. Blood began to spray, some of which got on Kuroda.

"Kuroda..." Makoto began to approach him. "It's okay. She's still out there, and alive, too. I'm sure of it."

"I appreciate the thought, Makoto, but I find that hard to believe..." Kuroda dropped the body and walked on. "There's no way they don't know we're here now. Taiki, you're with me. Let's go loud."

"Uh..." Taiki looked toward Makoto with an expression that said _Is this really okay?_ Makoto nodded, and Taiki drew out his kagune. "So... If we're going loud, why don't we go _really_ loud?"

"What did you have in mind, Taiki?" Makoto seemed intrigued.

"Kumiko, where are we now in relation to the room we need to be in?"

"Hold on a second..." Taiki could hear the presses of a keyboard through the earphone. " Go down the hallway and turn left at the first door, and you should be directly under it. Go to the end of the hallway and turn right, and you'll be at the staircase. What're you planning?"

"You'll see," Taiki smirked. "Alright then, follow me." Taiki dashed down the hallway, firing spikes at any guards he saw. "Hey, my accuracy's gotten alot better!" Soon, they arrived at the necessary room.

"Okay, here's what we're gonna do..." Taiki turned to face the group. "We're gonna bring the ceiling down!"

Makoto sighed. "I was worried you were gonna say that."

"Think about it, though! This way, we get easy access to the room, and the enemies won't know what hit 'em!"

"Alright, alright, you can do it."

"Awesome! Okay, here we go..." Taiki fired spikes to make a square on the ceiling, then fired larger spikes at the corners. "Kuroda, I need you to drive those larger spikes through, then strike the middle with your kagune. Can you do that?"

"C'mon, give me some credit, you psychopath."

" _I'm_ the psychopath?"

"Yeah, whatever." Kuroda did as Taiki said, and, with each hit, the floor rumbled.

"Now! Hit the centre!" Kuroda jumped and struck the centre of the square dead on. The floor crumbled, and the group dodged out of the room to avoid the debris falling down. Countless cries could be heard from the soldiers who were caught. "Okay, let's go!" Taiki jumped onto the rubble and into the room, shooting spikes at the two remaining soldiers who were looking down the hole.

"Got it! Time to get out of here!" Taiki called down to the group.

Makoto sighed. "Nice work, Taiki, but that was a little overboard."

"It was fun, though, wasn't it?"

"I guess so... Nonetheless, we're done here." The group left trough the window in the room and quickly returned home.

"So, Kumiko," Makoto asked. "Same time, same place?"

"Yes. I look forward to seeing you all there."

"Cool. See you then." The four ghouls returned to their home in the abandoned school house, making sure to stash away this new chemical they had obtained safely in their planning room. With that Taiki returned to his room, and changed into a new pair of clothes. He lay on his makeshift bedroll, staring at the ceiling.

Taiki wondered about everything they had been doing. Was it the right thing to do? Would it really work out in the end? Was there a chance of him still succumbing to his instincts as a ghoul? He normally didn't question the science behind it, as he didn't exactly have a good education on the subject. He could read, write and answer simple mathematics questions, but that was all. However, as he drifted off into the void of sleep, he couldn't help thinking about it.


	5. Chapter 4

_Chapter 4_

RYOUJI

Ryouji woke early in the morning and, after getting ready, headed towards the familiar tree where they were to once again meet Kumiko. It was esssentially a meeting to go over the status of the current objective, and acquisiton of the chemicals. Ryouji had been told that the group Kumiko was working alongside had been able to get their hands on chemicals in the past through other means. What these means were continued to elude Ryouji and the others.

Deep in his daydreams, Ryouji reached the meeting point before he knew it. Kuroda and Ki were already there.

"Late once again, Ryouji!" Taiki taunted him. "If you're always this late, you'll never be able to get a seat!" It was true that Ryouji wasn't too fond of standing while everyone else was sitting, but it was quickly growing on him. He felt that pacing around during long speeches helped him to focus.

"Ah!" Ryouji exclaimed. "Makoto and Kumiko are almost here."

"You can tell from this far away?" Kuroda questioned him.

"Yup." Taiki decided to cut in. "Ryouji's got this crazy sixth sense. He can tell where people are for miles around if he focuses. Although it doesn't work too well on people he hasn't been around for very long."

"I don't need you to tell him that, Taiki. I'm perfectly capable of describing my own abilities."

"Hey, you three!" They turned to see Makoto and Kumiko approaching.

"Let's make this quick, I have work to do." Kumiko launched right in to her explanations. "So, you did great work on that last job, even if it did get a little... Loud." She glared at Taiki.

"Sped things up, though, didn't it?"

"Yes, but if you keep doing things like this, certain people are going to take notice. The kind of people we don't want anything to do with."

"We? You mean you and that Mysterious Mister X?

"I would prefer you not call him that. Professor will do just fine, Taiki."

"And Ki would do just fine for me, hasn't stopped you yet."

"Just get on with it." Kuroda was becoming agitated. "How does this guy not drive you up the freakin' wall, Ryouji?"

"You get used to it. Seriously, though. This is important, Ki."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Sorry."

"Alright, now that that's out of the way," Kumiko continued talking. "We are currently setting up potential acquisitons of four of the remaining chemicals. Combining that with our three, and the one Makoto gave me on the way here, that will make eight."

"Finally some good news!" Ryouji seemed relieved. "I was starting to think this could take years, seeing as how long it takes you to find one of these things."

"Yes, I can't help but feel a little alleviated, myself. Moving on, we also think we may be close to a breakthrough in the research itself. If we're lucky, we might not need all ten. Although I wouldn't get your hopes up on that, we're just assuming from what we have. What we are about to get could introduce new parts of the equation, which could ruin the old formula."

"That sounds... Sketchy." Makoto seemed troubled. "Doesn't this mean that when we get all ten, they could contain something you know nothing about, or are unable to further develop, making our efforts completely worthless?"

"I assure you, we are doing our best to make sure all goes smoothly. We want exactly the same thing you do, for humans and Ghouls to live in harmony."

This always bothered Ryouji. Did they really think that simply not having to eat human could allow the two to co-exist? Who knows how long it could take before the human race starts to realise that the Ghouls are no longer targeting them? Maybe he was just being pessimistic, but he felt that there was so much more to this than just eating.

"Okay, then, I'm afraid that'll have to be all for today. I need to get back to work. We've been very busy lately, so, hate to bail on you, but I have to go."

"Thanks for the update, but..." Ryouji wanted to know as soon as possible as to when he should start preparing for their next job. "Any possible ETA on our next target?"

"Afraid not, for now. Hopefully soon, though."

"Okay, thanks anyway." Everyone began to disperse back to their respective places in the world. On the way back, Ryouji pulled Taiki aside.

"What's up, Ryouji?"

"You can feel it too, can't you? The aching in your stomach?"

"Afraid so... Soon, we'll have to do _that_ again."

"Tell me something, Ki. Do you really think that one day, all of this will be behind us? Behind all Ghouls? Do you think a time will come where Ghouls and humans can live in perfect harmony?"

"To be honest, I don't know. This seems to, I don't know... simple. Is it really enough for Ghouls to not have to eat human to stop them from doing so?"

"Yeah, that's something that's been bugging me constantly."

"Nothing we can do but wait, and watch the results, unfortunately."

"Yeah... Thanks, Ki."

"Anytime."

The two caught up to Makoto and Kuroda, and continued on their way home.


	6. Chapter 5

_Chapter 5_

MAKOTO

Tired after all that had happened recently, Makoto decided to take a day to rest, and think about all that had been going on recently. Now, their goal of uniting humanity and ghouls seemed closer than ever, and Makoto couldn't help thinking about what things were like when this all started 6 months ago.

The moon was hanging in the sky as Makoto was in the woods not far from the town. He was waiting for an unfortunate human to walk by. Despite Makoto's hatred of doing this, he had no other choice. It was Makoto's turn to find a human to bring back to the others to eat. Makoto spotted a helpless human strolling by. Upon deciding on his prey, he apologized deeply in his mind to this person and their families for the loss they would feel. He knew that those people could go on to despise all ghouls, and a deep hatred would burn within them. As Makoto jumped from the trees, the person turned and dodged out of the way.

"Wha-?" Makoto lost his footing and fell face-first into the dirt. He looked up to see a young girl about his age with black hair.

"What are you doing out here, attacking helpless girls like that? Are you some kind of pervert?"

"Uh..." Normally, any human who saw Makoto, or any ghoul for that matter, would turn tail and run. Having a human berate him was not quite something he was used to.

"I know what you were really doing. You were trying to eat me, weren't you?"

"I..." Makoto was shocked by the calm atmosphere this person had around them. "...Yes. I'm sorry, I just-"

"Don't worry, I understand. You don't have any other choice, right? Also, based on how you completely messed up that attack, you don't exactly feel good about doing this either, do you?"

"No, in fact, I hate it, but I have to do it or me and my friends would never be able to survive... I'd rather be dead than have to endure this... In fact, I've been starting to-"

"Would if I told you that I knew a way to end all this?"

"What do you mean by 'all this,' exactly?"

"I mean what I said. This, the killing and the eating, all the constant abuse and having to live in hiding because of who you truly are."

"Is such a thing really possible, though?"

"I believe so wholeheartedly. Unfortunately, I'm afraid getting past this will take alot of work. You see, I work under a scientist who is currently undergoing research to create a way to make food edible for any ghoul. I'm afraid the research isn't quite done yet, and the government wouldn't exactly be too keen on helping what is considered to be the scourge of this planet."

"Gee, thanks."

"Sorry. Their words, not mine."

"They really say that about us?"

"Unfortunately so." Makoto frowned on hearing this. "Anyway," the girl continued. "Getting the necessary materials will not be easy, and won't exactly be legal either. You mentioned a group of friends earlier, are they capable?"

"They're the best friends I could possibly ask for, and they're the strongest ghouls around here."

"Is that so? We'll see about that."

"I assume getting these materials will require robbery?"

"Yes, and quite alot of it."

"That just so happens to be our speciality."

"What... experience... do you guys have?"

"We've robbed pretty much every place around here at least once." The girl glared at Makoto.

"Hey, you've got to make a living somehow. Should you be right about this, though, I'd be glad to give up thievery after this is all said and done."

"Okay." the girl's expression eased up. "So, do we have a deal?" She extended her arm out to Makoto, who gladly took it. She helped him up and asked him his name. "So, what's your name, anyway?"

"Makoto. My friends are Kuroda, Taiki, we call him Ki, and Ryouji."

"I look forward to meeting them. My name is Kumiko."

"Pleasure to meet you, Kumiko." After deciding on a meeting place, they turned to go their separate ways. Makoto stopped.

"Hey, about this doctor guy you work for?"

"Yeah?"

"What's his name?"

"Just... Just Professor will do fine for now."

"Huh... Okay, then." Makoto continued on his way to deliver the news to the group. When he got back, they were annoyed about the lack of food, but Makoto saw their faces light up when he told them of Kumiko's offer.

"I'm in for sure!" Taiki jumped up, ecstatic about the thought of a normal life. The others were just as excited. After all, isn't normality all any ghoul wants out of life?


	7. Chapter 6

_Chapter 6_

TAIKI

Taiki and Ryouji, their heads covered by their hoods and facing down at their feet, were on their way to buy some coffee beans from a nearby shop.

"Hey, Ryouji, you ever think about how weird it is that Ghouls can drink coffee and be perfectly fine, but nothing else?"

"Who cares? It's something, right?"

"Yeah, but... I don't know, it feels like we've been really lucky recently."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well, Mysterious Mister X-"

"The Proffessor"

"Kumiko? Where'd you come from? I thought I was talking to Ryo!"

Ryouji frowned. "Ki, are you going to tell the story or not?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm getting to it." Taiki cleared his throat. "Well, there was that coffee machine we found with the instructions still intact and everything working perfectly, there's Kumiko being able to find more samples without our help for now, us finally nearing our goal. Especially when progress was so slow when we started out..."

"Where are you going with this?"

"You seem grumpy."

"Shut up."

"Well, things have really turned around for us, haven't they?"

"Yeah... It almost seems like everything from back then was a different world."

Taiki thought back to his past, before he and Ryouji met Makoto. They were orphans, Taiki's parents had been threatened into giving him up, but Taiki had gotten away from them. He assumed his parents had been killed. Ryouji was abandoned when he was four, the same age Taiki was when they met, although Taiki was older by a month or two. They had happened to end up in the same place, and stuck together ever since.

They snuck around their small town, picking pockets and, after a few years, robbing small shops. Taiki would always be the one to break, while Ryouji would wait at their exit to make sure the coast was clear. It rarely was. While the two could get in an out of a building almost flawlessly, they weren't exactly ones for stealth. They made a lot of noise, and built up quite a reputation. Eventually, the townspeople found the two's hideout, and they had to run for it.

They got out of town and headed for a nearby train station. When the train started moving, they jumped on top. By the time the townspeople realised they had made their escape, the two were already well on their way to another town. They drifted between towns improving their 'craft' for a year until, during one particular theft attempt, there was another boy, younger than Taiki and Ryouji.

"Hey, get out of here!" Taiki shouted "This is our target, not yours! Find your own!"

"Ah!" The young boy jumped on hearing Taiki's shouting. "Y-y-y-you're not... Humans, are you?"

"Huh?" Taiki frowned. "You trying to start something? C'mere you little-"

"Ki!"

"What'd I do now?"

"He's just a kid, can't you see he's terrified?"

"I... I'm not scared! Y'know why? I-I-I'm a G-Ghoul! Yeah, t-that's right! A big scary Ghoul! You two better get out of here before I-"

Taiki turned to the boy "Oh, you're a Ghoul too? I'm sorry, I believe there might have been some misunderstanding. We're Ghouls, too. Need a hand?"

"Wha..." The boy stared at Taiki with befuddlement.

"Do you need some help? With the robbery?"

"Why... Why are you being so nice all of a sudden?"

"Well, I just assumed you were some average human who got greedy, but if you're a Ghoul, then you have no choice to do this, huh?"

"Taiki..."

"What is it, Ryo?"

"Don't call me... Look, humans can have tough times too. It's not just us who has to live this way. Some humans are abandoned by their parents, too, and would have lived exactly like us."

The young boy suddenly shot up. "That's exactly what I've been saying!"

"What?"

"All I want is for humanity and Ghouls to co-exist. They both have their fair share of struggles, we're really not that different. When it all comes down to it, we're all just doing what we must to get by!"

Ryouji smirked. "You're pretty smart, kid. What's your name?"

"Makoto. You're Io, right?"

"It's uh.. Ryouji, actually." Makoto began sounding out Ryouji's name.

" _Ree-Oh-Gee_ , right?"

"Yeah, that's it, Ryouji. He's Taiki."

"Hey, Makoto. You can call me Ki, by the way."

"Ki can be a little insensitive at times, but he's a good guy, really. He just doesn't know when to shut up."

"I'd like to deny that, but, well..." Makoto frowned at Taiki. "Wha-what'd I do!? Was it something I said?"

"You were super mean to me because you thought I was a human, and a little kid, when I bet you're not even that much older than me!"

"Eh... Sorry about that, Makoto... How about I make it up to you by helping with your co-existing thing."

"You would do that for me!?"

"Yeah, sure. Oh, by the way, can I call you Koto?"

"Hrm..." Makoto thought about it. "Only after you finish helping me!"

"Alright then, Ko- uh... Makoto, a deal's a deal." Taiki extended his hand and shook it.

"Also, you have to promise not to be mean to humans anymore!"

"Of course. Ryouji, you up for this, too?"

"Sounds like it could be interesting, although I'm not sure... At the very least I'll keep you out of trouble as much as I can."

"I appreciate this, you guys. Really, thank you so, so much. No one at the school will listen to me."

"School?"

"The old abandoned school, where all the Ghouls live. You mean you guys didn't come from there?"

"No, we didn't should we have?"

"Hm... I guess not. Come on, I'll show you to it."

"Well, Ryo, looks like we'll finally get the one thing we've been looking for."

"Yeah..."

As Taiki and Ryouji walked back from the shop with the coffee beans, Taiki suddenly thought of something.

"Ryouji... With all this good luck we've been having, doesn't that mean we're gonna get some bad luck soon..."

"That's kinda dumb. Even if you are right, with Makoto Kuroda and Kumiko with us, we can overcome anything this world throws at us now, I'm sure of it."

"Yeah..."

The coffee tasted bitter that night.


	8. Chapter 7

_Chapter 7_

MAKOTO

Kumiko had arranged to meet with Makoto and the others to discuss details on the mission. Makoto and Ryouji arrived alongside each other at the tree and saw that Kumiko was already there.

"Hey, Kumiko." Makoto called out to her. "Sorry Ki and Kuroda couldn't be here. They were busy."

"Busy? Doing what?"

"Well, let's just say it's been a while and it's their... _turn._

"I see. Why'd the two of them have to go, though? I thought you guys normally only sent one of you?"

"About that." Ryouji looked down at his feet. "Well, lately we've been getting more and more hungry by day. It's not just us, either. All the ghouls are starting to move. I'm worried that this could result in the authorities interfering."

Kumiko frowned. "Then we'd better hurry, huh..."

"Yeah. Funny. We need everyone here right now more than ever, and yet this is the first time we're missing people."

"Whatever. We'll have to reschedule, I guess." With that, Kumiko left quickly.

"Hey, wait- Ugh... She could've at least gone over it with us first."

Ryouji furrowed his brow. "Not to mention we could've passed on the info to Ki and Kuroda."

"Wait, what's this?" Makoto walked over to a small cardboard box near where Kumiko was sitting. It contained a few small electronic devices. "I... guess we should return them?"

"I suppose." Ryouji looked over Makoto's shoulder at the box. "How would we get it to her, though?" Makoto looked at Ryouji expectantly. "What? What is it?"

"I know of a way we can get them to her."

"You mean following her? That's... Really creepy, actually."

"Not at all! We're simply returning some lost property to our respected friend and colleague! Frankly, I feel insulted."

"Uh-huh. Whatever, let's just go and get this over with."

Ryouji and Makoto tracked Kumiko on her way back to what they assumed was her home or lab, looking for somewhere normal humans wouldn't notice their sudden appearance from seemingly nowhere. Sticking to the trees, they eventually got to Kumiko's, or rather the Professor's, lab.

"Damn. She went inside. Now what?" Ryouji looked around for a few minutes

"Look," Ryouji pointed to the windows. "She just came out of that room. Maybe that's her office or something."

"Worth a shot. Let's go." The two inched closer to ther building, sticking to the tress, until they got to the window they had seen Kumiko in.

"Now that I think about it, she came out of the room walking at a pretty fast pace, right?"

"What about it, Ryouji?"

"Ah, it's nothing. Just thinking out loud."

"Did Ki get in your head or something? Come on, focus."

"Yeah.. sure." They circled around to the back of the room where there was another window. Although smaller and higher up, they could still get through it easily. Ryouji boosted Makoto up to the window.

"Get in, leave the box, and get out."

"Of course." Makoto made a hole in the window just small enough for his hand, reached in and opended it from the handle on the inside. With the window open, Makoto jumped in. When he landed, he slipped and fell over.

"Ugh... Damnit..." Makoto, still lying on the floor, looked around.

"What... The hell is this?" At the back of the small, square room, there was a tall figure. The figure was that of a boy slightly older than Makoto, although Makoto wouldn'tve guessed it from how this person looked then.

He was chained to the wall by his wrists and ankles. He had no clothes on his upper body. Numerous scars were visible across his torso. His head was flopped backwards, and Makoto could see the sides of his long, matted and tattered hair in between his arms and torso. His jeans were ripped up to his knees. What was left of them were saturated in the boy's own blood.

"What... I..."

"Makoto...?" Ryouji called in from the window. "Makoto!" Makoto snapped out of his stupor and looked over to see Ryouji in the window frame. "What's going on? Did something happen?"

"Change of plans. We're getting this guy out of here."

"What? To where?"

"The school, where else?"

"What if he's not a ghoul?"

"We'll figure that out if it comes to it."

"Damn... Fine."

"Thank you, Ryouji." Makoto walked up to the boy's chains. "Okay..." A wing-shaped kagune potruded from Makoto's shoulder. The Ukaku kagune glowed a bright green, illuminating the dark room. Makoto saw the floor around the boy was covered in blood, likely resulting in his slip earlier. Makoto fired one projectile after another slowly and precisely until all the chains were broken. "C'mon, big guy. You're coming with us."

Makoto could've sworn he heard a slight grunt from the boy, but passed it off as his imagination. "Coming your way, Ryouji."

"Got it." Makoto carefully passed the boy onto Ryouji, who safely laid him down on the ground.

"We've gotta leave. Now."

"I know, I know. I'm just trying to think of an escape route."

"The way we are now, covered in blood and with the extra weight of this guy, we won't exactly be able to move stealthily."

"You're right. We'd better just try and make use of our speed." Ryouji looked around one more time. "On my count, 1... 2... Now!"

The two dashed to the exit, jumping to avoid the guards. Makoto, his kagune still out, shot down at some of the guards as he passed, destroying their weapons. When they landed on the opposite side of the entrance gate, they ran out of sight of the enemy, and into the town. They moved as silently as they could until they reached the school.

Once inside, they quickly moved him to Ryouji's room, and lay him down in Ryouji's bed. They waited there for Taiki and Kuroda to return.

An hour passes, and Makoto hears a knock on the door. He glanced over at Ryouji.

"Come on in..." Ryouji called.

"Hey, we're back, we were able to-"

"Not right now, Ki. We have something more important to deal with first."

"And what would would that be?" Makoto gestured at the battered and bruised boy lying on Ryouji's bed. "What the- Who's this? And what's up with you guys?" Taiki pointed at Makoto's clothes, which were currently covered in blood. "Wait... You didn't kill him di-"

"No. We found him... Well, it's hard to explain. Y'see, Kumiko forgot something during our meeting, and we went to give it back to her. When we did, we found the Professor's lab and this guy."

"So..." Kuroda knelt down next to the boy. "What do we do with him?"

"Wait for him to wake up I guess." As Makoto said this, the boy's brow twitched, and he slowly opened his eyes. He sat up quickly and stared at his wrists, bruised from the chains that were once there.

"Hey, can you hear me?" Kuroda tried speaking to him. He seemed a bit taken aback, but nodded anyway. "If you don't want to talk, you don't have to. Nodding works fine for us." He nodded. "Okay... I just want to ask you a thing or two. First off, are you a ghoul?" He hesitated, looking over the faces of the four. He nodded.

"There's one potential disaster averted..." Makoto muttered. Kuroda glared at Makoto with his finger over his mouth, indicating for him to keep quiet.

"Just one more question. You don't have to answer if you don't want to or can't. What's your name?"

"M... My name... My name is Yamashita.


	9. Chapter 8

_**Chapter 8**_

KURODA

It had been an hour since Yamashita woke up. Kuroda was looking around the school for a free room for him to stay in. He peaked his head in to the room labelled 'R2' on the first floor. Inside was a room fitting about six people on the far side. On the side closest to him, Kuroda noticed that there was six more empty makeshift bedrolls. He looked up at the younger ghouls on the other side of the room.

"Um, excuse me, but... Is there anyone else staying in this room besides you six?" The boy on the bedroll in the far right corner stood up.

"Oh, hey big bro Kuro!"

"B-big bro? Kuro?"

"Uh... That _is_ what we're supposed to call you, right?"

"Ugh, did Taiki tell you to call me that?"

"Yeah, why? Should we have not listened to him? Is he bad?"

"No, just... Nevermind, it isn't important right now. So, is there anyone else staying here?" The boy on the far right looked up.

"There was, but they all moved to a different room."

"Ah, thanks. Is it okay if I let someone else stay in here?" The boy on the left spoke up again.

"Sure, as long as he isn't bad."

"Thank you. I don't think he's bad, but I'm not so sure yet. If anything weird happens with him, could you let me, Ki, Makoto or Ryouji know, okay?"

"Okay big bro Kuro!"

"Don't... Damnit, Taiki..."Kuroda turned and walked out of the room mumbling to himself. "Nevermind that now, I have to stay on task."

Kuroda returned to Ryouji's room with the good news.

"I was able to find a place Yamashita can stay." He said as he entered.

"That's good." Makoto replied. "Which room?"

"R2, downstairs. He'll be staying there with six other younger ghouls."

"R2, huh? Not bad..." Kuroda turned to look at Yamashita, who was laying on the bed.

"Is he asleep?" Ryouji stood up.

"Looks like it. Now that that's sorted, once Yamashita settles in we need to start looking for Kumiko and find out just what the hell is going on." Makoto stared at the floor.

"Yeah... Just what the hell are they doing there?"

Just then, the communicator Ryouji kept from the last mission beeped to signal an incoming call. Ryouji picked it up.

"Hello?" The voice on the other end was Kumiko's.

"Ah, Ryouji! Thank God, I haven't been able to get a hold of any of the others."

"Huh, how about that. So, what's up?"

"I need to schedule another meeting with you guys soon. How does tomorrow work for you?" Kuroda was cautious about this meetup. It could be dangerous to send either Ryouji or Taiki as they'd been to whatever facility they found Yamashita in.

"What's the meeting for?" Ryouji inquired.

"Something's come up. I need to talk to you guys about it in private."

"Hrm... Me and Taiki are busy tomorrow, so I'm afraid we can't make it. Makoto and Kuroda should be free, though. Hang on, I'll ask them." Ryouji covered the microphone on the communicator and looked around. "Well?" He asked. Makoto nodded silently. Kuroda followed suit.

"Alright then..." Ryouji put the communicator back up to his ear. "Yeah, they said it was fine."

"Tell them I'll meet them in the usual place." The communicator clicked, and Ryouji put it down.

Taiki stood up.

"So... Trap?"

"Maybe, but we don't know for sure until we go."

"Then it's settled." Kuroda got up to leave. "Ki, Ryouji, you help Yamashita get settled in tomorrow. Taiki put his feet together and raised his hand to his head in a mock salute.

"Sir, yes sir!" He shouted.

"Thanks... If you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go get some rest." Kuroda headed back to his own room. Thinking about the day's events as he went. Who was the Professor? Could he and Kumiko really do what they promised? If not, what were they doing? Questions flooded his mind as he opened the door to his room and lay back on his bedroll, getting lost in his thoughts.


	10. Chapter 9

_**Chapter 8**_

MAKOTO

The next morning, Makoto got up earlier than usual to prepare himself both physically and mentally. He, much like the others, was still very confused. He was to meet Kuroda at the wall before the meeting place. He got himself dressed and headed out.

Leaning against the wall in front of the tree, he thought to himself about what would happen should things go wrong. He also worried about Yamashita. Wha kind of person was he? Would he fit in? Would he ever recover? Just what happened to him? Makoto felt that he may never know the answer to that last one. Perhaps I could get it out of Kumiko, he thought. Nonetheless, Makoto wanted answers. As he thought this, he saw Kuroda coming towards him.

"So, all's settled, then?" Makoto asked.

"Yeah. Ki and Ryouji are helping him out, while also trying to find out anything about him they can. So far, although much better than before, he hasn't spoken much at all."

"Huh... Maybe he's just a man of few words?"

"Maybe. Anyway, we got a meeting to go to."

"Yeah... Time's a-wasting" With that, the two climbed the wall that was slightly higher than them and jumped over the other side. Kumiko was already there waiting.

"Glad you could make it." Makoto looked at Kumiko.

"Yeah... So what's going on?"

"Do you recall when I told you about those four potential acquisitions?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Well, I've got good news. We were able to retrieve the four we had set up! That means just two more!"

"Oh..." Normally this would have made Makoto ecstatic, but with what had happened, he couldn't help but get a feeling in his gut that told him this was not a good thing.

"Oh?" Kumiko frowned. "Aren't you at least a little happy?" She grinned. "Or are you just jealous that you didn't get do anything?"

"Yeah... You got me." Makoto stared at his feet.

"Wait, really? I was joking. Hrm. Never thought of you as the action-loving type."

"Oh, well."

"Okay, well, I suppose that's about it. Pass this on to the other two." Kuroda frowned.

"That's all?"

"Um... Yes?"

"Kuroda, what are you..."

"Nothing else you wanna say to us?"

"What are you talking about? Are you feeling okay, Kuroda?"

"Better than ever. Look, it's... Argh, nevermind. I'm leaving." Makoto ran after him.

"Kuroda, wait!" Makoto turned to Kumiko. "Sorry about this, he's just a little tired, we'll be sure to tell the others. Bye!"

"Just a little tired?" Kumiko tilted her head. "Uh... Bye, I guess..."


	11. Chapter 10

_**Chapter 10**_

YAMASHITA

Yamashita lay in his new home, struggling to remember anything about anything. No matter what, all he seemed to be capable of was drawing blanks and giving himself headaches. His curiosity was becoming almost suffocating. He couldn't bare to think of anything else. He decided to go find someone who might be able to tell him what was going on. He stood up and was about to leave the room when one of the small kids stood up.

"Um... Y-Yamash...Ya..." The boy frowned. "New guy!" Yamashita turned around. "Where are you going? Big Bro Kuro told us not to let you leave."

"Kuro...? Do you mean... Kuroda?"

"Yeah, Big Bro Kuro."

"Well, I need to ask Kuro something, so I'm sure it's okay. I'll be going straight to him." The boy seemed to think for a second before deciding.

"Listen, mister, I can't let you leave, Big Bro Kuro might get mad, but I can go get him for you."

"I see. Well, please go get Kuro if you wouldn't mind."

"Sure, I was getting bored anyway." The boy ran off. Yamashita sat down and sighed. _Can this Kuro-something really help me?_ He thought. A minute or two passed by when the kid came back. "I'm sorry, but... Big Bro Kuro isn't here right now..."

"Ah. That's fine. I'll wait for him to come back."

"Okay, then."

A sharp pain ran through Yamashita's head.

"Agh!"

"Are you okay, mister?"

"Y-yeah... I just need some fresh air, if you wouldn't mind."

"Well... You seem like you need it, so I'll let it go just this once."

"I appreciate that. Thank you." Yamshita set off at a brisk pace and, once outside, headed to the back of the school. "My... head... Ugh..." Yamashita pulled at his hair as he leaned against the wall and fell onto his knees.

Keeled over as he was, memories began to flash. The pain. The torture. The sick, twisted excuses for 'experiments' they had carried out on him. He felt something surging in his back. He felt as if something was bursting out behind him, bringing along with it uncontrollable rage.

"U-urgh... W-what the hell... Is t-this!?"

He felt his skin tear and a new appendage emerge from the hole.

"Is this... M-my... Kagune?"

As he stood up, Yamashita felt a rush of power then unkown to him, before letting out a blood-curdling scream and falling to the ground unconcious.

When he awoke, Kuroda was standing over him. He could see that Kuroda was shouting something, but no words seemed to be coming out.

"K-Kuro..." Yamashita struggled to speak, but this seemed to calm Kuroda somewhat. All of a sudden, Kuroda's voice became clear.

"Oh, good... You're okay." Yamashita heard another voice chime in from out of view.

"Well, I wouldn't say okay, he's definitely _not_ okay... But he's alive. So that's something." Yamashita figured that was the loudmouthed one, _Was it..._ _Teaikey? Something like that,_ He thought to himself.

Once again, Yamashita strained himself to speak.

"K... Kuro... I... Remember..." His conciousness was beginning to slip away

"What? What do you remember? Yamashita?"

Yamashita heard a sound of rushing feet, followed by an unfamiliar voice. He couldn't quite make out what was being said. He heard fighting, then, just as everything was beginning to fade, he just barely heard a new yet old voice.

"Welcome back," it said.


	12. Chapter 11

_**Chapter 11**_

MAKOTO

Makoto awoke to smells and sounds previously unkown to him. To him, they were disgusting, unwanted, and awful things, but still they permeated inside his nose and ears. The smell of blood and flesh, the sounds of pain and torture, they engulfed him. He opened his eyes and raised his head. He was suspended from the ceiling, tied at his wrists and ankles. He turned his head towards the sounds. There, he saw Yamashita in the same situation as him. Someone was talking to him. They were wearing a mask, so he couldn't see who it was, but he could tell from their figure that it was a man.

"Ah, Yamashita, it's good to see you back! We were worried your suppressants were going to wear off. Based on the report I got, I see we got you just in time. As for the one who let you get away, she's been... Dealt with." Makoto's eyes widened. _Kumiko?_ He thought. _Does he mean Kumiko?_ The man continued talking. "Oh, and this time we decided to bring some friends for you!"

He looked over at Makoto and curled his lips into a grotesque smile. He reached into a pocket on his lab coat and pulled out a remote. He pressed a button on the remote. A light above Makoto switched on, as well as three lights in front of him. Under those lights he saw the others. Kuroda, Taiki and Ryouji. They were all there. Or at least, Makoto hoped they were. Their bodies were battered, bruised and beaten.

"So glad you're awake, Makoto! Now you can see me do to Yamashita what I did to all your friends!" _How does he know my name? Is he the proffessor?_ Makoto thought. The man turned and walked away from Yamashita over to a table nearby. As he began to walk over to Yamashita, Makoto realised what was happening. He turned away and shut his eyes.

Hours passed before the man was done with Yamashita, but the sounds had stopped shortly after they started. Makoto realised this probably wasn't because Yamashita didn't scream, but that his vocals were so horribly torn from it that he no longer could. Then, the man walked over to Makoto. Makoto's eylids were pryed open by his fingers. Makoto was met face-to-face with his same, grotesque smile, now with a speck of blood on his cheek.

"No, wait, I-"

"Oh? You can still talk after seeing all that? My, my, aren't you a resilient one?" The man produced a syringe from behind his back. "Tell me, Makoto, do you know what you've been working towards all this time? I'll show you..."

The man stuck the syringe into the left side of Makoto's chest, straight through to the heart. Makoto let out a shout. The man giggled with an almost child-like demeanor and sense of wonder behind his voice that made Makoto sick to his stomach. "Now..." The man placed his thumb on the top of the syringe and pushed down. Makoto felt a surge throughout his body. He felt something building up more and more. "I think I'll leave you like that for a while. See how that does you." The man turned away as Makoto's pupils dilated.

The build-up began to fester in his upper-back as it continued. Suddenly, Makoto heared the tearing of flesh as his kagune surged out. The green, almost feathery, almost crystal-like appendage glowed in the dark, blood-drenched room. The faces of everyone there was illuminated. The man turned around and gasped.

"What...?" He stared on, dumbfounded by this. Makoto narrowed his eyes as he shot at the man. The crystal was nearly as long as Makoto's arm, and twice as wide. It was at this point that Makoto noticed he could see a lot more of his kagune than usual, almost like it was twice the size. The crystal flew out and pierced through the man's chest, right through his heart. Amidst a haze of anger and strength, Makoto fired bolts one after another into everyone's restraints, even his own, somehow without hitting them. As Makoto stood up, he heard a cacophony of noise emitting from the man laying on the floor.

"What the hell... What the hell are you?!" The man yelled. Makoto turned and stared him straight in the eyes.

"A Ghoul." The man's eyes widened, then rolled back in his head as he fell limp and lay on the ground, dead.

The others, except for Yamashita, crowded around Makoto with a myriad of questions. Makoto couldn't hear any of it. All he could hear was the ringing in his ears. Suddenly, his knees buckled and he fell. As he faded out of consciousness he heard Yamashita speak.

"I am so, so sorry."


	13. Chapter 12

_**Chapter 12**_

YAMASHITA

Yamashita stared at the floor as the group crowded around the unconcious Makoto. The first to speak up was Kuroda.

"Ma... Makoto!" He knelt down and, grabbing Makoto buy the shoulders, began shaking him. "Hey... Makoto... Makoto... Come on, Makoto, don't... Don't leave us!"

"Don't worry," he said, now looking Kuroda in the eyes. "He's alright. Well, maybe not alright, but he's alive. He'll recover, just like I did."

"Just like..." Kuroda paused. "Just like you? The _hell_ do you mean by that?"

"What happened to Makoto... It also happened to me. Only difference is, back then they didn't have as much... Material... Available to them. The effects did not make me strong enought to break out, and my struggle only led to further restraint." Taiki, leaning on one knee looked up, visibly pained, he began to speak.

"M...Material...?"

"Yes."

"You don't mean...chemicals, by any ch...chance, do you?" Ryouji and Kuroda turned to look at him.

"Ki... Do you know something?" Ryouji looked at Taiki, concerned.

"Taiki Saruwatari," Kuroda began with a stern look. "If you know something, you will tell us. Now."

"H-Hey... Calm down there, K-Kuro... It's just..."

"Just what?"

"A...a g-guess..."

"Tch. Fine. When you're ready, share with the class, please?"

"Hehe... You got it."

Yamashita walked over to help up Taiki.

"Come on, we're all leaving. I have some explaining to do myself, I'm afraid."

Yamashita turned to the wall. He pulled back his arm and punched the wall with force. Cracks began to appear, and then the wall simply crumbled away.

"Damn... So..." Ryouji looked out through the hole in the wall. "Where do we go?" Kuroda stood beside him.

"Not the school, that's for sure."

"Then..." Yamashita looked around through the hole. "Where do we go? Is there somewhere else you guys have?"

"Maybe," Kuroda glanced at Ryouji, then turned to Yamashita. "It's not the best idea, but it's better than the school, and it's all we've got." Ryouji nodded.

"Right. We're heading to the tree."

"Tree?" Yamashita was visibly confused.

"You'll see. Just follow us."

Yamashita, holding Makoto over his shoulder in one arm, and holding the barely conscious Taiki in the other, followed them.

Upon their arrival, Kuroda gestured to Yamashita to lay Taiki and Makoto down on a pile of leaves under a particularly wide branch.

"This is all we can do for now, but..." Kuroda stared at Makoto with a worried expression.

"It's going to be alright, Kuroda. I promise.. I suppose, while we wait for them to recover, I should start spelling things out for you."

"Please, by all means, do." Ryouji looked at Yamashita expectantly.

"...Alright, here goes. So, much like you guys, I've been running practically all my life. Only difference is, you found hiding. I, on the other hand, no matter how fast I ran, couldn't escape them. Their grasp. I don't even know their name, but I know they are bad news. You see, I overheard quite a few things during my time with them, them being those that tortured me all this time."

"...And?" Kuroda frowned. "If there's a point, you should get to it." Ryouji turned to him.

"Kuroda, I understand you're worried, but now's not the time to be hostile. Yamashita, continue, please."

"Right... Anyway, I still have no idea what that injection they gave me was, only that it was the same one they gave to Makoto. But, one of the things I overheard was that they had Ghouls on the inside. People working with them to help their goals." Ryouji sighed.

"Unfortunately, that was probably us."

"No, they mentioned you, too. They called you 'gullible, foolish scum,' this was different."

"S-Scum...?!" Kuroda muttered.

"That aside, they referred to these people differently. They called them strong, trustworthy, reliable, hell it was an unending showe of compliments for those 'Humans with Kagunes' of theirs.

Ryouji stood up. "Humans with Kagunes?"

"Yeah, that's what they called them. They were Ghouls, through and through, but the researchers used to say that them being as they were, they may as well have been human. A rumour used to float about between guards that they'd never even eaten human."

Kuroda was sceptical. "How'd you figure all this out, anyway?"

"The guards, the researchers, almost all of them thought I was dead the whole time. I may as well have been, in that state."

"I see. So, you think these 'Humans with Kagunes' were responsible for attacking us at the school?"

"I can't say for sure, but it's possible. They certainly wouldn't have stood out nearly as much that way."

"Damn," Kuroda clenched his fist. "They infiltrated...? When?"

"I don't know, but I do know one thing. All of you, even you, Kuroda, are not strong enough to beat them."

"Huh? What, you saying we're weak?"

"By standards around here, no, you're incredibly strong, but if even half of the things I've heard about these guys are true, you don't stand a chance."

"So... What do we do?"

"Makoto has gotten... Stronger, to say the least. I will try to teach him to control that strength. In addition, I will do my best to teach you all how to fight."

"But... We know how to fight!"

"No, you know how to throw yourselves at the enemy. I can teach you proper fighting skills."

"How, exactly?"

"That's a story for another day. It isn't much, but this is all we have to go on. We can begin once the others are caught up to speed."

"...Okay..." Kuroda began walking towards the wall.

"H-Hey!" Ryouji called. "Where are you going?"

"Back to the school," Kuroda called over his shoulder. "I'm gonna go look for supplies, you watch the others."

"A...Alright... Man, Kuroda seems to have taken charge pretty quickly..." Ryouji let out a deep sigh.

" Guess we're on watch duty..."


	14. Chapter 13

_**Chapter 13**_

MAKOTO

It had been a few hours since Yamashita and Kuroda explained everything to Makoto and Taiki. He didn't quite know what to make of it, or what to do about it, but he did know that he couldn't just do nothing. They had done something to him, and he wanted to know what, and why. He stood up and looked around at his surroundings. The familiar tree, the wall, the houses in the distance, it all seemed inexplicably strange to him.

"Okay..." He muttered to himself. "Time to set this straight." He walked past Taiki who was leaning on a branch, still not quite able to move around, to where the other three Ghouls were. "Everyone, listen up." He called out to them. They all turned and looked at him. "We may not be able to do much right now, but we sure as hell aren't just gonna sit here with our thumbs up our asses waiting for _them_ to move first." Yamashita shook his head.

"Not able to domuch? Makoto, we can't even move right now. They'd spot us in a second, we need to lay low and-"

"That doesn't matter right now, because we _have_ to move, or we'll all be in the same boat, and that boat's on a collision course with death, or worse. The CCG."

"Oh, yeah?" This time it was Kuroda's turn to shake his head. "Well, got any bright ideas? No? Then we're staying put, CCG or no."

"Actually, as a matter of fact I do. We actually have a few options right now."

"And those would be?" Kuroda said.

"Well, let's break things down. They were using needles to inject me with... Whatever that was... But those weren't any ordinary needles. After all, they were able to pierce a Ghoul's skin, something even the best of muggers I've run in to have this far failed to do."

"What's your point?"

"Well, if they've got special needles, they must've gotten them from someone who knows what's up. We find that person, maybe we can learn something from him."

"So, how exactly do we find him them? They could be anywhere."

"Easy. We track a few of their delivery trucks, see where they go." Makoto turned around to Taiki. "That'll be on you and Ryouji, Ki."

"That's not half bad. But before you said we had more than one option. What are the other ones?"

"Well, it's a bit of a long shot, but..." Makoto clenched his fists. "Kumiko."

"What? Why, exactly, do you think she'll help?"

"She works there, doesn't she? Also, that scientist guy, he said something interesting..."

"Oh, yeah? And what would that be?"

"He mentioned someone getting _'taken care of'_ and the only one of us not here now is Kumiko. Maybe we can use those communicators to try and work out where she is?"

"That is if she isn't dead already."

"I'll take that chance. We might be able to get a clue as to her whereabouts from those communicators. It's worth a shot."

"I see... It's risky, but... Anything else?"

"Just one thing. The chemicals."

"Those damn things? Why?"

"If we get them before they do and destory them, they can't do whatever it is they want to do."

"Huh. So how you wanna do this?"

"Well, Taiki and Ryouji can track the deliviries, while the rest of us should keep an eye on the communicator. Unfortunately, we can't risk taking action on the third option right now."

Taiki piped up from behind Makoto. "I'm down. Let's get this done, and fast."

"Uh... Taiki..." Ryouji smirked. "No offense, but... You're not exactly in a position to do much of anything right now."

"Oh... You're right... I kinda forgot since I stopped feeling that pain in my, well, everywhere."

"It doesn't hurt anymore?"

"No, not really. Think I can move around?"

"I wouldn't risk it."

"Gotcha." Taiki looked up then jumped up to grab the tallest branch. Surprisingly, he was able to jump high enough, and pull himself up. "...Nah, think I'm good."

"W-wait, Ki, that could've gone, really, really bad."

"But it didn't, so all's well that ends well, right?"

"No, not really..."

Makoto noticed Yamashita looked bothered by something. "Hey, Yamashita." He started. "You look worried. What's up?"

"It's just... How did Taiki, or Ki, rather, heal up so quickly?"

"Now that you mention it, it is strange."

"Maybe he..."

"Maybe he what?"

"No. It's nothing. Forget I said anything."

Makoto shrugged. "Alright, then, I guess..."


	15. Chapter 14

_Chapter 14_

RYOUJI

Ryouji, prepped and ready to go scouting, was still waiting for Taiki to wake up. It had been just over a week since Makoto came up with his scheme of 'tracking deliveries.' In that week, only one delivery had come through. Ryouji wondered wether it had just been a slow week, or they were being more covert with their cargo. If that was the case, Ryouji and Taiki's jobs would be made a lot harder. He sighed, then shouted.

"Taiki, come on! We have to go." Taiki stumbled out from his bedroll and began yawning.

"I got it, I got it. Let's go." The duo then left the area. Their strategy wasn't exactly the best, as they were mostly just watching main roads for suspicious activity. "There has to be _some_ better way to do this, Ryo." Ryouji produced a quick glare in Taiki's direction.

"Well, if you've got any other ideas, I'm all ears." Ryouji looked at Taiki expectantly. Taiki shook his head and said,

"You got me there, I suppose. Whatever, I'm just gettin' kinda bored of sitting around here all day. What do you suppose those other 3 are doing back at the base camp while we're out here?"

"I would guess they're making about the same level of progress we are."

"So that'd be... None at all, then." Taiki sighed.

"Hey, cheer up, I might have an idea or two."

"What?"

"Yeah. So you know how we only saw one go through at all last week."

"Right. When was that again? Friday?"

"Yup. It's Wednesday now. I get the feeling that they're being more covert with their deliveries, but there's one that they can't do without putting in a van, and it comes in on Fridays."

"Bit of a long shot, don't you think?" Taiki seemed unsure.

"Oh, it's the longest of shots, but I think we can pull it off. Besides, if it does show up, we'll be ready this time, not distracted like before..."

"Yeah..." Taiki cast his eyes down. "That was embarrasing."

"And we shall never speak of it to the others."

"Sounds good to me. After all, I don't think they'd want to know anything of a long-winded debate about wether or not a banana is a herb or a fruit." Taiki started laughing to himself

"We said we shall never speak of it."

"They're not even here, though!"

"I know, but that doesn't make it any less stupid." Ryouji frowned.

"You say that, but you got pretty into it."

"Shut up, or we might miss another one." Ryouji stared forward with a frown on his face

"Alright, alright, I got it."

With that, the two Ghouls began circling the town's main roads, always remaining out of sight using trees or rooftops. Unfortunately, even after searching for hours upon hours, they had to come back empty-handed

Author's Note: Sorry for the short chapter where nothing happens! I've been pretty sick for a while now, so I wasn't really able to write much at all. Again, really sorry, hopefully will be better in time for the next upload so I can do a proper chapter.


	16. Chapter 15

_Chapter 15_

KURODA

Kuroda had to admit, he was skeptical of Makoto's new plan at first. He figured that Makoto wasn't in his right mind, and was going practically delirious after what happened to him. Kuroda felt like he needed to take over as leader until Makoto could get back on his feet. However, once Makoto laid everything out for him, he was reassured that all was well. Since then, Makoto, Kuroda and Yamashita had all been crowding around the four communicators waiting for something, anything, to come through, but to no avail.

"So..." Kuroda looked at the other two ghouls beside him. "How do you think Ki and Ryouji are getting on with their little scavenging hunt?"

"Well..." Makoto put his hand on his chin. "So far, they haven't exactly yielded any results, but I'm sure something will come through sooner or later."

Yamashita, scratching the back of his head, turned to Makoto and said, "Actually, that isn't... _entirely_ true."

"What?" Makoto was caught off guard. "Do you mean to tell me they found something and didn't say anything to us?"

"Well... I'm not exactly sure, but when they came back a few days ago, I overheard them talking about something as they jumped over the wall."

"And? What was it?"

"Well, Ki said something about not mentioning their 'slip-up' to the others. Ryouji agreed."

"Any idea what slip-up he might mean?"

"Now that you mention it..." Kuroda was trying to suppress his laughter. "Around that same day, at night, I remember them arguing about something."

"What was it?" Makoto was curious.

"Apparently, one of them..." Kuroda had to stop to laugh for a few seconds. "Has convinced themselves that a banana is a herb, and they were arguing about it!"

Makoto's jaw dropped. "You've got to be kidding me."

"Nope, I think that's honestly what happened."

"God damn it, Ki..."

Yamashita was staring dumbfounded, saying nothing, when suddenly he piped up.

"Ssh!" He exclaimed. "I think I heard something..." Makoto and Kuroda suddenly became very serious.

"Are you sure?" Makoto glared at the communicators. "All right, everyone shut up."

The three crowded in even closer, and began listening intently. At first, all they heard was static, but as they listened closer, Kuroda swore he heard a garbled voice in there somewhere.

"...He's right! It's too messed up to make out, but there's definitely a voice there." Makoto nodded.

"Alright, then. You two, go begin scouting in nearby areas you think she might be. Anywhere, anywhere at all, that you think she could possibly be, no matter how small the chance, go check it out. I'll keep an ear out here."

Kuroda and Yamashita both got up and nodded in unison.

"Alright, then." Yamashita extended his hand. "Let's get going." Kuroda raised an eyebrow at Yamashita. "What?" He asked. "Did I say something wrong?"

"No..." Kuroda stared at Yamashita's hand. "It's just... Why's your hand out?"

"Um... For a handshake, obviously?"

"Yeah, but... Why a handshake?"

"I don't know, for a job well done! It seemed like a good idea."

"I mean, we haven't really done anything yet... But okay..." Kuroda shook Yamashita's hand and the two headed off.


	17. Chapter 16

_**Chapter 16**_

YAMASHITA

Yamashita turned and took one last look at the entrance to the dense forest. Nothing. Where could Kumiko be? He wondered. Taking in his surroundings, finally out of the forest, he noticed that the sun was coming up.

"Aw, crap," He sighed. "I'd better get out of here before it gets any brighter... Don't exactly have freedom to move around anymore..." Yamashita let out one last sigh before turning and heading in the direction of the tree. The group's new base of operations wasn't exactly fancy, and he preferred the school, but this was their only option for now.

"You know," He said to himself as he jumped from rooftop to rooftop through the town, "I wonder why we haven't been back there since we snuck in to grab the communicators... Is it really so dangerous that we can't even stay there for a few hours?" As he continued to make his way back home, he noticed a bright orange blaze in the corner of his eye. Stopping, he looked in the direction of the light. He could barely see the light over the walls and buildings around him, but he could see the smoke quite clearly.

"What's going on...?" He said. He began heading over towards it. On his way, he noticed it was the direction the school was in. "No... It couldn't be..." He said to himself."

He arrived at the light only for it to confirm his fears. The fire rose high, all the way up to the top of the bulding, and the smoke even further. There was a large crowd of people in the courtyard in front of the school building. They were holding bottles with rags in them and wearing masks. One of them, the one standing at the front, began to shout.

"Inhuman, monstrous scum!" He screamed, throwing a bottle as he did. The bottle went through a window, and as it did, it smashed. Smoke soon began to billow out of the second-story window, and Yamashita heard screams from withing.

"What the hell... Is this?" The front doors of the school burst open, and about twenty ghouls ran out, all coughing from the smoke. One of the people at the back noticed this, and yelled.

"Over there! They think they can get away!" He lit the rag on his bottle before throwing it. Just before it hit the ghouls, Yamashita darted down and grabbed the bottle, before chucking it back at the man.

"Yeah! Now who's the bottom of the food ch-Whuh?" The bottle landed in front of him and set the ground ablaze. Those closest to the bottle began to scream, as there shoes and trousers had caught fire. A large majority of them dispersed, leaving their mob at just eight.

"Hey..." Yamashita growled. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" Another two began to freak out, and made their escape. The one at the front, who had thrown the bottle threw the window, grinned, the corners of his smile visible through his small dust mask.

"Just my job, that's all."

"Your... Job?" Yamashita could feel his Kagune waiting to burst out and tear this man apart. He supressed it as best he could.

"Of course! My job as a member of society! I'm going to cleanse this town of your filthy, disgusting, ravenous, violent, peasentry of a race, and then humanity can once again claim its throne as the alpha." His face grew more and more contorted with each insult, eventually turning into some mix of a disapproving scowl, and a crazed smile.

"Y'know, pal," Yamashita started. "You're not making it very easy for me not to kill you."

"Oh, I doubt you could." The man gloated. "Your kind are so predictably brutal, attacking an innocent citizen who is only doing his job as a citizen. You may say it's for self defense, but all you really want is food."

"Food, huh? Now that you mention it, I haven't eaten in a while..." Yamashita prepared to release his Kagune, but as he readied himself, he looked back up and noticed that the man had disappeared.

"Wha-" Yamashita's eyes darted around, looking for any sign of life. "Where'd he go?!" He couldn't even smell the gasoline in the man's bottle anymore. Also just now noticing their leader's disappearance, the remaining humans took off running. "Whoever that bastard was... I'm gonna find him." Yamashita clenched his fists as he gazed upon the burning building. "And I'm gonna kill him. Slow."


	18. Chapter 17

_**Chapter 17**_

TAIKI

Taiki and Ryouji were on their way back from another failed attempt to find a delivery truck, when Taiki noticed something.

"Hey... Ryouji?"

"Huh? What's up?" He asked.

"That's uh... That's a _lot_ of fire."

"What? Wher-Oh, wow." The two stopped on a rooftop and gazed at the billowing inferno before them.

"H-hey!" Taiki shouted. "That's the school!"

"What?!" Ryouji shouted in disbelief.

"Come on, we need to get over there!" Taiki ran to the edge of the rooftop

"Ki, wait, it could be a trap!" Ryouji called after him, but it was too late. "Damn it. I gotta go tell Makoto." Ryouji continued on his way back home.

Meanwhile, Ki barged into the doors of the school. Running into the room where he knew the kids would be, praying it hadn't been hit, he saw someone.

"Hey!" Taiki called out. "What's it like in there? Anyone hurt? What the hell is going on?"

"Ki!" A familiar voice called out.

"Yamashita? Wh-what are you doing here?" Taiki swatted away debris blocking his path as he made his way into the room.

"I was nearby, much like I assume you were. Following up on a lead on Kumiko. I came across this, and the guys who did it but..."Yamashita scowled. "They got away. Fast. Strangely fast..."

"Well, we'll talk about that later, for now, we need to grab any survivors we can!"

"Yeah, you're right. Let's get moving." The two began moving throughout the school, from their old rooms, to the dilapidated cafeteria, to the formerly cramped rooms, once full to the brim with lodging ghouls, now empty.

"Yamashita..." Taiki lay down on his back.

"Huh?"

"It's hopeless. No one's left. Those bastards took them from us."

"...It certainly seems that way."

"Hey, Yamashita?" Taiki sat up, an idea in his mind. "You're strong, right? Like, really strong, stronger than Kuroda?"

"I... Guess so." Yamashita gasped. "Ki, if you're implying that I..."

"No, no, nothing like that. Well, I guess a little like that."

"Still cracking wise, are we?"

"Look, my point is, I want you to make us stronger."

"What?"

"Well, if you're stronger than us, than surely if we fight against you, we're bound to get stronger, too, right?"

"But... Why? I though brute force wasn't you guys' style."

"It kind of isn't, but... This is different. Personal. Not to mention whoever did this has gotta be some kind of messed up. Reason ain't likely to work on someone like that."

"I guess... Okay, you've got a deal, but first you need to promise me something." Yamashita clenched his fists.

"Go ahead."

"I want you to help me fix this. We'll rebuild the school, better than before, create a new, better home for those like us."

"That isn't gonna be easy, Yamashita... But sure. Once this is all over, and we won't have anyone bothering us, we'll set it all right. It'll be just like before..." Taiki smiled, but he also felt uncertain.

"I know this is a bit of a pipe dream, and I don't have much place to ask this, considering I wasn't exactly there for long, so... Thank you. Seriously."

"No problem. But, we've got work to do before we can get down to doing work, know what I mean?"

"What did you actually just say?"

"Don't worry about it, let's just get moving. The others have to know what happened here."


	19. Chapter 18

_Chapter 18_

MAKOTO

Makoto, just finishing what had now become his daily routine of food scavenging, hopped over the now unmistakeable wall. _We've done pretty well for ourselves, hiding out here for just over a month now_ he thought. He made his way over to the hastily scrapped-together- hyst made of branches and leaves that they had managed to build.

He ducked under the roof to find the same scene he'd come across every day of the week now. Either Kuroda or Yamashita would be there, staring at a pile of communicators on a square plank of wood they called a table.

"Kuroda," Makoto waved at him before putting down the bag of stolen food. "How're things going."

"Same as they always have been, I'm afraid." Kuroda turned away from the table and lay down, staring at the makeshit ceiling.

"Is Yamashita out following a lead?" Makoto asked.

"Yeah... Wonder what's keeping him, though."

"Where's he gone to?"

"That forest, just on the outskirts of town. Ryouji and Taiki said they saw one of the delivery trucks up that way."

"So he's looking for a building?" Makoto frowned. "By himself? Couldn't that be dangerous."

"No, it's a suspicious case, apparently." Kuroda threw his hands up. "Ryouji and Ki said the truck went towards the forest, and they were gonna follow when it went in, but when they were going to, they noticed it drove back out, so they followed it."

"Huh," Makoto but his hand on his chin, considering a few possibilites. "You sure it didn't just go the wrong way?"

"Maybe... But those two seemed pretty sure about sending someone in to check it out."

"I see... Well, I wish him luck."

"Well, while you're here, stick around and watch these damn radios with me." Kuroda sat up in a cross-legged position and pat the ground beside him.

A few hours passed, and Kuroda was beginning to get fed up.

"We can never find anything on these stupid things!" Kuroda complained. "We need some other method to search."

"Hey, I've been wondering..." Makoto's shoulders sank. "It's been a while now and what if, well... What if they killed her?"

"Well then I'd be a little bit annoyed considering how much time we've sank into this." Kuroda flopped backwards, once again lying on the ground.

"No," Makoto shook his head. "I can't start thinking like that... Kuroda, I have an idea."

"Oh, yeah?" Kuroda's head poked up.

"Yeah... We're gonna need to get Yamashita for it, though, wherever he's gone off to." Makoto shrugged. "I can pitch it to you first, though."

"Go ahead." Kuroda held his hands out.

"So... When Yamashita was found, there was a little window high up, right?"

"So?"

"Well, when we were in there, we were told that Kumiko had already been dealt with, so if they were hiding her somewhere, it wouldn't be in there, right?"

"Yeah. Which is why we haven't scoped it out just yet."

"Well... I'm suggesting that there might be other such places in that bulding, or maybe in other buildings we've been to before."

"You really think they'd hold multiple ghouls of Yamashita's caliber in one place?"

"No, but Kumiko's not a ghoul, remember? She's human."

"So you think she could be in one of those rooms."

"Exactly. Worse case scenario? We rescue some kidnapped ghoul, bringing more support to our side."

"Worse case scenario is that we _die_ , but hey, what else is new?"

Makoto and Kuroda agreed on the details of the plan, and Kuroda headed out to look for Yamashita. They needed to know how long they would normally keep someone there, otherwise Kumiko might've already been moved, or worse.

Makoto crawled out of the hut, finally being able to stand up straight, he stretched his back. He noticed someone was hopping over the wall, and it was Ryouji.

"Makoto!" Ryouji called out. "C'mere!"

"What's up?" Makoto called back. "Got another lead?"

"Uh... Not really... But we might have a problem."

"Huh? What problem?"

"Smoke, and a lot of it, at the school. We think someone might've started a fire there."

"What?! Wait, is Ki with you?"

"No," Ryouji shook his head. "He ran off to the smoke. Where're Kuroda and Yamahsita?"

"Yamashita's still out on a lead, so I Kuroda went off to go find them."

"Well... With any luck, they might've made their way to the school to help out."

"Right." Makoto nodded. "So we'll have to do our part, too."


	20. A Quick Message From the Author

Hey, guys, the author here. Today I just wanted to go over a few things. First off, no upload yesterday. I'm so, so, sorry about that, but yesterday I had been out basically all day, and when I got back, I was drained. In the days leading up to it, I had been catching up on some school work, and wasn't able to write the chapter. No, I don't have a buffer. I'm bad at scheduling, I know. So it's because of that scheduling bad-ness that I've decided my next works will not be like Hunger, and will rather be uploaded on a "When it's done," schedule, rather than a bi-weekly. Hunger will continue, but before that can happen, it will be going on hiatus. I have exams in 12 days followed by a mid-term break, during which I will have my birthday, so... Sorry to say this, but Hunger will not be returning until after that break. However, first Thursday after the break and I'll be launching into the next major story point. As you can tell, I've been sort of dragging things along, because I couldn't properly get to where I needed to be while also doing enough school stuff, and I'm not happy with it. Hunger has become somewhat of an afterthought, and I don't want that. I want to be able to come back after my school break, ready to devote proper time to Hunger. Anyway, I don't foresee a better time to bring this up, so if you want to discuss this or Hunger in general, why not head on over to the official hungerfic Place page? I intended to bring this up much earlier but never got around to it. You can find it by heading to the place website (It's a .xyz site, just so you know, not .com), clicking Discover on you homepage, and searching for "Hunger fic". I will be posting any future works beyond Hunger there. Thank you all so much for reading so far, and I hope I can continue to meet your expectations.


	21. Chapter 19

_Chapter 19_

YAMASHITA

Yamashita still felt slightly uneasy about Taiki's request. _Make them stronger?_ He thought. _Train them? How the hell do I do that?_ He frowned, knowing that he had little choice, considering he had already agreed to do it, and he wanted that school rebuilt, which meant he had to train them. He sighed.

He looked over at Makoto, who was sitting cross-legged on the ground, pondering something.

"Makoto?" No answer. "Makoto." Still nothing. Yamashita decided to give him a light push. "Makoto!"

"Gah! What? Huh? What's happening?" He fell over out of panic before quickly standing up, ready to attack.

"Uh... Nothing. Nothing's happening," Makoto's face turned bright red.

"What? Then why'd you say there was!"

"I... Didn't," Yamashita shook his head. "Sit back down, you goof."

"Well, that's a new insult if I've ever heard one." Makoto said as he sat back down.

"Not an insult, more... An observation."

"Sure..." Makoto stared at Yamashita with a blank expression. "Anyway, if nothing's going on, the hell did you push me for?!"

"Well..." Yamashita started. "I was _trying_ to get your attention, if that's too much to ask."

"You could've just said my name, y'know!" Makoto frowned.

"I did. You didn't listen."

"...Whatever," Makoto threw his hands up in the air. "What did you want to get my attention for, then?"

"Well," Yamashita started. "I wanted to know what you were so deep in thought about that you didn't even recognise your own name."

"Oh..." Well it's about that thing me and Ryouji discussed.

" _Where in the World is Kumi San Diego?_ " Yamashita laughed to himself. Makoto frowned.

"...If you made that joke to every single person you've ever met, how many do you think would get it? Because I am not one of them."

"It's funny to me," Yamashita shrugged. "Anyway, we're getting off track."

"Right." Makoto nodded. "The plan to find Kumiko. I think... I think we might be ready to put it into action, but..."

"But?"

"We're just not strong enough." Makoto clenched his fists. "We can't win against them. Not again. Last time was just dumb luck."

"...I can help with that," Yamashita smirked. "In fact, it seems your team already thought the same thing."

"Huh?" Makoto looked up, surprised.

"Yup. Taiki came up to me the other day asking me to train you guys. In return, he was gonna help me rebuild the school once everything's over."

"I see... Well, not much we can do other than get to it." Makoto stood up. "I'll go round up the others. We're gonna make this happen."

"Right," Yamashita nodded, standing up and stretching. "It'll be nice to have myself a good workout at the same time."

 **We back, boi!**

 **Anyhow, I know I neglected to mention when exactly I'd be back,sorry about that, but whatever, here I am. Kinda short build-up chapter, I know, but I gotta ease myself back into it. Next chapter'll be pretty action-heavy, so... Here's hoping I don't screw it up! Lots of dialogue in this one, huh...**

 **Oh, and, by the way? The joke was " _Where In the World Is Carmen San Diego?_ "**


End file.
